Following the announcement that J.K. Rowling is to self-publish the e-books to her successful Harry Potter series, Wired UK has gathered some of the new techniques that authors and publishers are using to bring their tomes to market.
via Digital Book Publishing Models to the Rescue | Epicenter | Wired.com.
Colby is the owner and founder of Brick Tower Press and J. Boylston & Company. According to the lawsuit, between 2006 and 2007, Colby bought the assets of publisher Byron Preiss, which included an entire library of sci-fi and fantasy books published under the “ibooks” imprint. Those books date back as far as 1999.
Apple originally owned the “iBook” trademark for its line of colorful consumer laptops, which eventually morphed into the white unibody MacBook that Apple still sells today. However, the company didnt use the term to refer to e-books until it unveiled the feature for the first iPad in the spring of 2010.
Colby fears that Apples continued use of the trademark will make it impossible to continue the ibooks imprint. “Apple’s use of the mark iBooks to denote the electronic library that can be accessed via its iPad tablet computer and its iPhone is likely to overwhelm the good will of plaintiffs ibooks and ipicturebooks marks and render them virtually worthless,” reads the complaint.
via Apple iBooks trademark under fire from independent book publisher.
The practical upshot of this fix is that you can now transfer EPUB files into iBooks far more easily than before, when the only way was to drop them into iTunes and do a USB sync. For individual users, that means you can send yourself an EPUB via email and transfer the attachment to iBooks, and you can also copy EPUB files into Dropbox and use the iOS Dropbox app to send them to iBooks.
From our perspective as a publisher, even more important is that you can now tap a link to a .epub file in Safari and use the Open In interface to open the file in iBooks.
via TidBITS iPhone iPad iPod: iBooks Now Opens EPUB Files Directly.
As it turns out, there are a few Canadian writers who have already gone indie and aren’t looking back.
In the 1990s, writer Cliff Burns formed his own imprint and published his book Sex and Other Acts of the Imagination after being unable to find a publisher.
“Self-publishing saved my career and my sanity,” says Burns, who “got tired of all the power resting in the hands of editors and agents who clearly had no affinity for work that carves a different path . . . now, new technologies like print-on-demand and blogging have placed more power and responsibility in authors’ hands.”
Monster publishing house Random House has finally given in over the so-called “agency model” e-book pricing and will begin implementing the pricing changes on Tuesday, March 1. The agency model is a shift away from the traditional wholesale model, though the publisher plans to stick to the old way when it comes to physical books. The move will not only shift the pricing power back to the publisher, but will also open the door for joining Apples iBooks as well.
via Random House caves on agency e-book pricing, may join iBooks soon.
Gill & Macmillan, the largest Irish-based publisher, is to launch consumer targeted ebooks in the first quarter of 2011.
According to Tony Hetherington, Digital Developments manager, the company will ‘focus on device linked stores as the way forward.’
Hetherington highlighted Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iPad which is linked to their iBooks and iBookstore and also Kobobooks which has an ereader as part of their offering. Currently, iBooks offers only free public domain titles to Irish readers.
Gill & Macmillan has been experimenting with digital books in its educational business for some time having launched an ereader trial as early as 2008.
Hetherington said that the company had previously hoped to launch before Christmas but it still needed to put ‘a couple of things in place.’
The company relaunched its website earlier this year with a new ecommerce engine and has rolled out a number of mini-sites to support its titles.
The Australian Apple iBookstore launched paid content today with ebook titles from Hachette Australia, Murdoch Books, HarperCollins, Pan Macmillan, Hardie Grant, Melbourne University Publishing and John Wiley & Sons among the initial offerings.
Prices on the iBookstore range from $2.99 for ‘classics’, to a mid range for many titles of $11.99, $12.99 and $14.99, and as high as $39.99 for some titles.
via News Articles – BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER Online – your gateway to the Australian book industry.
For more information on iPad/iPhone and iPod Touch reading apps try Robert Maguire’s long review post on some of the freely available iPad book Apps.
These apps allow readers to download books to their iPads and read them. Nearly all of them offer works for free that are currently in the Public Domain (That is books that have either been published by authors who have died before 1939 as copyright extends for the life of the author plus seventy years or books that have been placed in the public domain by their authors for a variety of reasons).
If Irish readers wish to buy books however, other than as stand alone apps, which IS currently possible directly though the iPad App Store, then they will need to buy them in Apps other than iBooks.
The Kindle App for iPad is currently in the top Twenty free apps and it offers books for free and for purchase. Kobo also offers books for sale. Both require credit cards as does an iTunes account so that might present problems.
Direct downloads from these apps however take only seconds once a book is purchased. Both also allow for preview sections to be sent to a device and Amazon’s Kindle in particular has a good online account for managing your purchases and previews and re-sending them if needs be.
All told, Kindle is the clear winner in terms of selection and pricing though Kobo is a good performer and some may prefer the apps design clarity and presentation which is slightly sharper on the iPod Touch than the Kindle App.
This morning iBooks is the number one free iPad App in Ireland.
Amazon’s Kindle for iPad app, at number eleven is just outside the top ten free Apps.
The Elements: A Visual Exploration published by Touch Press is the top ranked paid book app at number 15 in the overall list of paid apps.
Drilling down to the paid apps in the book section, The Elements: A Visual Exploration is at number one, the full version of Disney’s toy Story Read Along App at number two, Alice for the iPad at number three, Self Help Classics at number four and The Cat In The Hat by Dr. Seuss at number five.
iBooks is joined by the Kindle App, Marvel Comics App, Toy Story Read Along App and the Free Books App in the top five free book apps.
For more on reading and book apps, read Robert Maguire’s post from yesterday: To E Or Not To E: A Beginner’s Guide To iPad Ereading Apps.
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